Ukraine’s media are getting alarmingly constrained by ever-growing financial dependence. While private freedom of speech is still safe, things are not the same for journalists.
Ever since democracy was recognized as an ultimate good, the world began taking especial care of freedom of speech. You can’t have one without the other, after all.
However, some countries, or better say some countries’ establishments, have got hold of the idea that just declaring those values is more than enough. Regrettably, Ukraine seems to be one of these countries.
“Ukraine’s stabilization and the fragile ceasefire in the east have been accompanied by a significant fall in abuses,” says Reporters Without Borders, an international nongovernmental organization. “The authorities have adopted a number of reforms, including media ownership transparency and access to state-held information, but wealthy businessmen still keep a tight grip on the media.”
Reporters Without Borders’ world press freedom index ranks Ukraine only 107 out of 180 countries.
“It’s all about the “oligarchs-media-establishment” love triangle,” says Pavel Elizarov, the CEO of TV channel 3s.tv. “Certainly, those players influence each other by their nature. And it’s the same in any country. The only question is the level of such interdependence. It’s really alarming in Ukraine.”
It doesn’t look that bad at first sight. Yes, citizens are free to say or write whatever they want. And yes, they can criticize the government and share whatever content. Private freedom of speech is fine unless you cross common moral boundaries.
But if you are a salaried journalist writing an article that paints a not- -so-appealing image of the president, things don’t look so good.
A recent Vox Ukraine analysis indicated apparent self-censorship by TV channels. The analysis probed weekly news coverage by the four top channels since President Petro Poroshenko took office.
Believe it or not — but consistently, over the last two years, only 1–2 percent of the news coverage of Poroshenko was negative. Compare similar research in the U.S. – 48 percent of the coverage of U.S. President Barack Obama was negative.
“The existing poor conditions actually have a 15- to 20-year history,” says Elizarov. “Some of the former presidents used to assign so-called endowments (land, factories, companies) to be managed by those whom we call oligarchs. Later on, those people took over the assets completely. That’s how they became who they are now.”
“Certainly, the establishment wants to control them as much as possible. Classically it’s done by pressuring their businesses — either through regulation or via power structures. Oligarchs use the media to protect their business in a direct way — instructing them to push a certain topic or highlight some person in a ‘correct’ way. The indirect way is to shine the spotlight on the ‘right’ people — those who need to become famous in order to get enough votes to become MPs. MPs who will then later pass the ‘right’ laws,” says Elizarov.
“This destructive mechanism undermines all the efforts of civil society and drags Ukraine back. It also blocks any movements towards a free journalism market. Oligarch-owned media represent a dead-end for all of us.
“(This is especially relevant) given the ongoing court case on the ban on Savik (Shuster, the political talk show host) working in Ukraine and the 13 million tax fine imposed on him,” said Elizarov.
Shuster said: “Freedom of speech for all of us is still a value worth fighting for, and personally, I’m ready to sacrifice a lot for it.”
Aside from freedom of speech, the Ukrainian Constitution grants freedom of thought as well. But there’s still one important “freedom” missing from the text of Ukraine’s fundamental law, one that is explicit in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution – “freedom of the press.”
That’s an important phrase that should be enshrined in law – it’s still not too late for Ukraine to leverage 300 years of experience and include it in its own constitution.
Olga Korniev is public relations manager for TV political talk show host Savik Shuster’s 3s.tv channel.
